The Death of Tom Riddle
by Elizabeth.M.Kelli
Summary: Tom's decent into darkness through the eyes of the only one who ever really cared.


Tom Riddle was a fairly lonely and self-contained person. He had never quested for company, and he could never imagine wishing for company, it simply made no sense. He put up with his associates because they would help him to power, the Malfoy family was rich, the Parkinson family has connections high in the ministry, Nott already had an offer for a rather good desk job, and Rookwood had already been approached by the Department of Mysteries.

But there was one girl who was not like all the others. He met her on the train to Hogwarts, and she had sort of just attached herself to him. She was not interested in the Dark Arts, and had given no indication that she knew that Tom had been entrenching himself in them. She was also a Slytherin, and used spells to change her appearance on a regular basis (a few people thought she was a Metamorphmagus, although she was most definitely not), and many people had never understood why she wasn't in Ravenclaw, or even Gryffindor.

But more than anything else, everyone assumed that she was Tom's girlfriend.

Of course this rumor was completely unfounded, but Tom was not completely adverse to it. It did after all make it seem as though he was just an average teenager, even though he knew he was far more. It was best after all to just let people think what they like, so long as it made them like him. But of course the girl in question knew better, she was after all the closest thing Tom had ever had to someone he cared for.

Thus it was a surprise when pretty Alise MacBell, her hair dyed blue and her eyes silver kissed him on the train ride back to London after their fifth year. But Tom wasn't particularly opposed to the idea, and so they became something more than just friends.

But it was soon after that summer that Alise realized something was different about him. He had always been a bit dark, and never the most communicative, but he was silent far more often, and he started disappearing for periods of time, telling Alise not to worry about it when he returned.

It was that year that poor Myrtle Baker died. She hadn't been very pretty, and Alise had never cared much for her, she was a Gryffindor and infatuated with that big oaf Hagrid, but all the same she never wanted her to die. So she wore a black headband and put black streaks in the green hair for a few days. Tom didn't approve, he seemed happy that there was one less mudblood in the world.

Then Hagrid was expelled for accidentally setting a dangerous creature loose on the school, and killing his housemate. That was when Alise became suspicious. It couldn't have been Hagrid, he had been making moon eyes at Mytle almost as often as she made moon eyes at him. Alise's suspicions made her look more closely at her housemates. None of them had been too upset about Myrtle's death, but she found herself crossing names off her list of possible people to have killed her.

It was near the end of their seventh year that she managed to get the numbers down to Tom and his friends from all years, and a few from other houses. All of them had a mean streak, that Alise wished she could have ignored, and been ignorant. But Alise wasn't a Slytherin for nothing. By the end of their seventh year she realized that it could have only been her beloved Tom. None of the others so much as blew their noses without Tom's permission, and they never would have killed a third year without Tom's express orders.

But Alise didn't say a word.

She never admitted that she knew. She could have told Headmaster Dippet, although he wasn't likely to believe her. She could have told Professor Dumbledore, he didn't trust Tom anyway, or she could have told their head of house, Professor Slughorn. She could have even told her best friend the Ravenclaw Chiara Lovegood, but she didn't tell anyone.

No, instead she just stayed close to Tom and watched for odd behaviors. So she was the first to know that he had asked Dippet for the Defense job, and she was the first to know he had turned it down. She was only one to know that Tom had taken a job at Borgin and Burkes, and bought the apartment next to Toms, and got a job at Flourish and Blott's on Diagon Alley.

When Tom disappeared she was the only one to track him down without his call.

And then she confronted him.

"Tom, I know," She told him standing awkwardly in front of him. They had been 'together' for almost four years. They had never done anything other than kiss, and for close to three years it had been more a ruse for Alise to stay close.

"You know what Alise?" Tom asked looking straight into her eyes. Alise had cancelled every appearance changing charm she had on herself and hadn't touched a drop or grain of make-up. Her hair was a dark brown, almost black and her eyes were gray-green.

"I know everything. I know that you killed Myrtle, I know you framed Hagrid, I know you killed that little old lady, and I'm fairly certain you've killed a couple other people in between," Alise admitted.

"What are you going to do," Alise took a sharp breath. She had hoped he would deny it, shout at her, scream, something. Anything that could make Alise think she had been wrong for three years. That it was all coincidence and happenstance.

"I…I don't know," Alise's throat was constricted with tears that she didn't want to fall. The two stared at each other for a moment before Alise swallowed and visibly gathered her courage, "I guess I should tell someone. The Aurors maybe."

"Ah…Well Alise, my dear, I can't let you do that. I have very big plans, and I can't let you tell," Tom told her standing up and towering several inches above her.

He stepped close and Alise couldn't muster up the energy to take a step away from him. He stood leaning a littler with his mouth only a few inches from hers, and she felt the phoenix feather wand digging into her stomach.

"You had it all right," He whispered, "Good-bye Alise." Then he muttered the two final words, and Alise collapsed to the ground like all the bones in her body had turned to water. Then Tom took out Slytherin's locket and trapped a piece of his soul in it. If anyone deserved to have a piece of his soul, it would have been Alise. The foolish girl with a bright smile as she asked whether he thought red eyes were a good idea.

A true smile graced the lips of Tom Riddle for the last time.

That was the last time anyone ever saw Tom Riddle, but Lord Voldemort's campaign started two days later, and no one ever asked why he wore that locket around his neck. They were too afraid.

It wasn't until he had made two more horcruxes that he hid away the one that held the piece of his soul, and his heart, that Alise once held.

**So I've been thinking about writing this up for a long time, and I finally got it out. This is one of the endings ****The Lost Boys ****could have taken, but I decided recently that I would give my characters happier ending.**

**Alise MacBell is my original character, and I got choked up killing her there. She's a very vibrant character (if you read ****The Lost Boys**** you'll understand), and I really love her. **

**This did actually end up being a little more depressing than I intended, and I might rewrite it later to make it longer and more fully fleshed, because Alise really does love Tom, and Tom (although he doesn't realize it) truly loved her, and she's the only one he loved. So…yeah…**

**Please give me a review telling me what you think of this. Anything even a "good" or "this sucks" would be greatly appreciated. **


End file.
